Installation for filling aerosol receptacles

ABSTRACT

An installation for filling aerosol receptacles includes a filling station constituted by a housing, at least one cylinder mounted within the housing at a position located above the position for receiving the receptacle, and a controlled jack driving a piston with reciprocating movement in the cylinder to cause liquid contained in the cylinder to pass through the valve of the aerosol receptacle in engagement with the cylinder. The control element of the jack according to the closing and/or locking of the housing door and the shape of the aerosol receptacle, is a same member, this member being, during deformation of the aerosol receptacle driven to move from a position in which it coacts with a supplemental member to control the operation of the jack upon the closing and/or locking of the door of the housing, toward a position in which it inactivates the operation of the jack.

The present invention relates to an installation for filling aerosol receptacles, of the type comprising a filling station for aerosol receptacles constituted;

-   -   by a frame having the form of a housing,     -   at least one cylinder, such as a cup, whose lower portion is         adapted to come into engagement with the valve of an aerosol         receptacle, this cylinder being mounted removably within the         housing at a position located above the position for receiving         the aerosol receptacle,     -   a jack driving a piston with reciprocatory movement within the         cylinder to cause the liquid contained in the cylinder to pass         through the valve of the aerosol receptacle in engagement with         said cylinder, the operation of the jack being controlled on the         one hand by the closing and/or locking of the housing door, on         the other hand by the absence of deformation of the deformable         aerosol receptacle under the influence of excessive filling.

An example of such an installation is particularly described in the European patent EP-A-0 440 447. The operation of such an installation is as follows. After bringing the aerosol receptable and cylinder into engagement, the filling of the cylinder proceeds, with a fluid which will constitute the filling fluid of the aerosol receptacle. Once the cylinder is filled with a suitable quantity of fluid, the cylinder/aerosol receptacle assembly is installed in the filling station. Control means by displacing a piston is then actuated to drive the piston to move from a first position in which it is located above the cylinder to a second position corresponding to its end of path, in which it extends within the cylinder in a position in which the quantity of liquid to be transferred from the cylinder to the aerosol receptacle has been transferred. In the course of this descending movement of the piston in the cylinder, the liquid is transferred from the cylinder into the aerosol receptacle by passing through the valve of this latter. The piston is then raised with the help of control means and removed from the cylinder to permit the removal of the cylinder/receptacle assembly. The aerosol receptacle is then separated from the cylinder and is ready to use. There can then be carried out the filling operation of a new aerosol receptacle. In certain installations, it is necessary that the pistons undergo several movements back and forth within the cylinder to obtain filling of the aerosol receptacle. In other installations, the filling of the aerosol receptacle is obtained by means of a single movement of the piston. In this case, the configuration of the cylinder can be such as to permit, with the content of a same cylinder, filling several aerosol receptacles.

Independently of the arrangement used, there exists a risk of explosion of the aerosol receptacle when this latter is overfilled. Overfilling can take place when the aerosol receptacle has been subjected to several consecutive filling operations, the operator having omitted to change the aerosol receptacle.

Excessive filling gives rise in the first instance to the deformation of the bottom of the receptacle which is generally of concave shape. This concave shape becomes convex during bulging of the receptacle due to this overfilling. If after this first deformation, the filling continues, there is then the risk of explosion of the aerosol receptacle. It will be understood that this explosion must absolutely be avoided. This is why the aerosol filling receptacles are provided with a certain number of safety devices.

The patent EP-A-0 440 477 discloses simply an installation in which the closing of the door is detected so as to permit the operation of the installation and in particular a reciprocating movement of the jack, only when the door is closed.

Two other installations are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,938,260 and 5,740,841.

In U.S. Pat. No. 5,535,790, two safety systems are provided. The first system provides controlling the operation of the jack by the closing of the door.

A second safety system interrupts the air supply of the pneumatic circuit of the jack, preventing any operation of the piston of the pumping device when deformation of the aerosol receptacle is detected. These two safety devices are positioned in two separate locations of the installation. The presence of these safety devices multiplies the number of risks of malfunction and complicates maintenance.

An object of the present invention is thus to provide an installation for filling, of the type mentioned, whose design permits simplifying the safety devices without impeding the operation of the assembly.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a filling installation whose design permits easily incorporating in existing installations safety devices without having to modify the pneumatic circuit of the existing installation.

To this end, the invention has for its object an installation for filling aerosol receptacles, of the type comprising a filling station for aerosol receptacles, comprising:

-   -   a frame having the form of a housing,     -   at least one cylinder, such as a cup, whose lower portion is         adapted to come into engagement with the value of an aerosol         receptacle, this cylinder being mounted removably within the         housing at position located above the position for reception of         the aerosol receptacle,     -   by a jack driving a piston with reciprocating movement in the         cylinder to cause the liquid contained in the cylinder to pass         through the valve of the aerosol receptacle in engagement with         said cylinder, the operation of the jack being controlled on the         one hand by the closing and/or locking of the housing door, on         the other hand by the absence of deformation of the deformable         aerosol receptacle under the effect of excessive filling,         characterized in that the control means for the jack upon         closing and/or locking of the housing door and the shape of the         aerosol receptacle, are constituted by a same member, which         member being, during deformation of the aerosol receptacle,         driven to move from a position in which it coacts with a         supplemental member to control the operation of the jack upon         closing and/or locking of the housing door, toward a position in         which it inactivates at least partially the operation of the         jack according to the open/closed, locked or unlocked position         of the housing door.

Thanks to the design of the control means provided with a common member, it is possible to adapt such safety devices to an installation simply provided with a contactor detecting the opening or respectively the closing of the door. It is not in this case necessary to modify the pneumatic circuit. Moreover, the design of the control means, because of its simplicity, requires adding very few elements within the installation.

The invention will be better understood from a reading of the following description of examples of embodiment, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view of the installation in the open position of the housing door;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of the installation in the region of connection of the cylinder/plate/door/contactor;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the installation with the door shown transparent, accompanied by a detailed view of the installation in the region of the locking/contacting member;

FIG. 4 is a view analogous to FIG. 3, the locking member being in the locked position, and

FIG. 5 is a view analogous to FIGS. 3 and 4, the bottom of the aerosol receptacle having been deformed by excessive filling.

As mentioned above, the filling installation 1 for aerosol receptacles, according to the invention, comprises a filling station for aerosol containers constituted by a housing 3 closed by means of a door 5, a cylinder 2, such as a cup, whose lower portion is adapted to come into engagement with the valve of an aerosol receptacle 1, this cylinder 2 being mounted removably within the housing 3 at a position located above the position for receiving the aerosol receptacle 1, by a jack 4 driving a piston with reciprocating movement in the cylinder 2 to cause the liquid content of the cylinder to pass through the valve of the aerosol receptacle 1 and engagement with said cylinder 2. As mentioned above in conventional installations, the operation of the jack 4 is controlled on the one hand by the closing and/or locking of the door 5 of housing 3, on the other hand by the absence of deformation of the aerosol receptacle 1 deformable under the effect of excessive filling. In a manner characteristic of the invention, the means for controlling the jack 4 by the closing and/or locking of the housing door 5 and the shape of the aerosol receptacle are constituted by a same member 9 common to the two controls. This member 9 is, during deformation of an aerosol receptacle 1, driven to move from a position in which, in cooperation with a supplemental member 10, 11 carried by the door, it controls the operation of the jack 4 upon the closing and/or locking of the door 5 of housing 3, toward a position in which it inactivates at least partially the operation of the jack 4 according to the open/closed, locked/unlocked position of the door 5 of housing 3. By inactivation of the jack 4, is meant the closing of the air supply circuit of the jack which is generally a pneumatic jack. Conversely, by placing the jack in operation, is meant the opening of the air supply circuit of the pneumatic jack 4. Generally, the operation of the jack 4 is partially inactivated. Thus, the control member 9 inactivates the operation of the jack upon its descent, which overcomes the risk of overflowing, on the other hand it does not prohibit, upon release of the control button, the rise of the jack 4, thereby permitting freeing the cylinder 2 and the aerosol receptacle 1. In other words, in the deformed condition of the aerosol receptacle 1, the control means for the jack 4 prevent movement of the piston in the direction of introduction into the cylinder 2 and permit eventually a movement of the piston in the direction of withdrawal from the cylinder 2 so as to promote freeing of the cylinder 2 and of the aerosol receptacle 1.

An example of embodiment of control means constituted by a same member 9 will now be described. In the illustrated examples, the cylinder 2 is carried, in the housing 3, by two plates 6, 7 separated from each other by an interval 14. This interval 14 receives compression springs 8 permitting relevant displacement between said plates 6, 7. The springs 8 are threaded on stationary guides 12 distributed about a circumference of the fixed plate 6 and movable plate 7. A detector 9 is associated with one of the movable plates 7 and detects by contact the condition (open/closed) and/or locked of the door 5 of the housing 3. This detector 9 is constituted for example by a pneumatic contactor. The detailed design of this pneumatic contactor will not be described hereafter because it can have various forms of embodiment. The plates 6 and 7 are each provided with a U shaped notch. They thus have branches which insert into a circumferential throat 13 externally of the cylinder 2. One of the plates, shown at 6 in the drawings, is stationary whilst the other plate, shown at 7 in the drawings, is axially movable during axial movement of the cylinder/aerosol receptacle assembly arising from bulging from the concave bottom of the aerosol receptacle 1 by bearing on the bottom of the housing 3. This axial movement, giving rise to compression of the springs 8, is more particularly visible in FIG. 5.

The consequences of the axial movement of the movable plate 7 will now be described hereafter as a function of the embodiments used for cooperation between the detector 9 and the door. Thus, in a first embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the pneumatic compactor 9 is arranged to coact with a specimen tongue 10 carried by the door 5 of the housing to detect the closed position of the door 5 so as to control the operation of the jack and then the filling of the aerosol receptacle, in the closed position of the door, in the undeformed condition of the aerosol receptacle 1, as shown in FIG. 2. The closing of the door 5 and the presence of the sampling tongue 10 permits, by bearing contact with the contactor 9, the opening of the air supply circuit of the jack and accordingly the transfer of the liquid contained in the cylinder 2 toward the aerosol receptacle 1. Upon excessive filling of the cylinder 1, it will be understood that the assembly constituted by the cylinder 2 and the aerosol receptacle 1 will move axially upwardly in FIG. 1 by bulging of the bottom of the aerosol receptacle 1 which comes to bear against the bottom of the housing, thus generating movement of the plate 7 in the direction of the plate 6 and a compression of the springs 8. The contactor 9 is thus no longer in bearing contact with the tongue 10 on the door 5 giving rise immediately to the closing of the air supply circuit of the jack. The operation of this latter is thus impossible, preventing a new filling of the aerosol receptacle 1. A new operation of the jack can be achieved only after removal of the assembly formed by the cylinder and the aerosol receptacle and replacement by an undeformed aerosol receptacle. It is to be noted that in the preceding, an equivalent solution would have been achieved by positioning the tongue 10 on the plate 7 and the contactor 9 on the door.

In a second embodiment, more particularly shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the detector 9 is constituted by a pneumatic contactor arranged to coact with a member 11 for locking the door 5 of the housing 3, such as a latch, positioned on the internal surface of the door 5 so as to control the operation of the jack and accordingly the filling of the aerosol receptacle in the undeformed condition of aerosol receptacle 1. FIG. 3 thus shows the position of the contactor elements 9 in the unlocked position of the door. FIG. 4 shows the position of the contactor elements in the locked condition of the door with the help of element 11 constituted by a pivoting latch. FIG. 5 shows the position of the elements of the detector 9 and of the locking member 11 after deformation of the bottom of the aerosol receptacle following excessive filling of the receptacle. Again, there is an upward movement of the movable plate 7 and a compression of the springs 8. The axial movement of the plate upwardly overcomes the contact of the elements of the detector 9 by means of the locking member 11 such that the contactor is deactivated and thus closes the air supply for the circuit of the jack.

Thanks to this arrangement of the control means in which a same member permits both to detect the closing of the door and the deformation of the aerosol receptacle, there results a simplification of the obtained installation. Such a system permits in spite of everything to prevent any accidental explosion of the aerosol due to overfilling. This solution can be integrated into any existing apparatus by means of modifications and adaptations that are quite simple. The cost of the installation is thus reduced because no modification of the pneumatic circuit is necessary relative to an apparatus provided with a door contactor. 

1. Filling installation for aerosol receptacles (1) of the type comprising a filling station for aerosol receptacles constituted: by a frame having the form of a housing (3), at least one cylinder (2), such as a cup, whose lower portion is adapted to come into engagement with the valve of an aerosol receptacle (1), this cylinder being mounted removably within the housing (3) at a location situated above the place to receive the aerosol receptacle (1), by a jack (4) driving a piston with reciprocating movement in the cylinder (2) to cause the liquid contained in the cylinder to pass through the valve of the aerosol receptacle (1) in engagement with said cylinder (2), the operation of the jack (4) being controlled on the one hand by the closing and/or locking of the door (5) of the housing (3), on the other hand by the absence of deformation of the aerosol receptacle (1) deformable under the effect of overfilling, wherein the control means for the jack (4) for the filling and/or locking of the door (5) of the housing and the shape of the aerosol receptacle, are constituted by a same member (9), this member (9) being, during deformation of the aerosol receptacle (1), driven to move from a position in which it coacts with a supplemental member (10, 11) to control the operation of the jack (4) upon the closing and/or locking of the door (5) of the housing (3), toward a position in which it inactivates at least partially the operation of the jack (4) whichever is the open/closed or locked/unlocked condition of the door (5) of the housing (3).
 2. Installation according to claim 1, wherein the cylinder (2) is carried, in the housing (3), by two plates (6, 7) separated from each other by an interval (14), this interval (14) containing compression springs (8) permitting relative displacement between said plates (6, 7), a detector member (9) being associated with one of the movable plates (7) and detecting, by contacting cooperation with a supplemental member (10, 11) carried by the door (5), the open/closed and/or locked condition of the door (5) of the housing (3).
 3. Installation according to claim 2, wherein one (6) of the plates (6, 7) is stationary, the other plate (7) being axially movable upon axial movement of the cylinder/aerosol receptacle assembly caused by bulging of the concave bottom of the aerosol receptacle (1) against the bottom of the housing (3).
 4. Installation according to claim 2, wherein the springs (8) are threaded on stationary guides (12) distributed about a circumference of the fixed plate (6) and movable plate (7).
 5. Installation according to claim 2, wherein the plates are each provided with a U shaped notch having blades which are inserted in a circumferential throat (13) externally of the cylinder (2).
 6. Installation according to claim 1, wherein the detector member (9) is constituted by a pneumatic contactor arranged to coact with a sampling tongue (10) carried by the door (5) of the housing (3) to detect the closed position of the door (5) so as to control the operation of the jack and hence the filling of the aerosol receptacle in an undeformed condition of the aerosol receptacle (1).
 7. Installation according to claim 1, wherein the detector member (9) is constituted by a pneumatic contactor arranged to coact with a locking member (11) of the door (5) of the housing (3), such as a latch, positioned on the internal surface of the door (5) so as to control the operation of the jack and accordingly the filling of the aerosol receptacle in an undeformed condition of the aerosol receptacle (1).
 8. Installation according to claim 1, wherein in the deformed condition of the aerosol receptacle (1), the control means for the jack (4) prevent a movement of the piston in the direction to introduce into the cylinder (2) and if desired permit a movement of the piston in the direction out of the cylinder (2) so as to permit freeing the cylinder (2) and the aerosol receptacle (1). 